Hubei Optics Valley Laboratory

Hubei Optics Valley Laboratory: A engine to nudge “Optics Valley of China” towards “Optics Valley of the world”

“This tiny solar cell is the achievement after being left out in the research field for over 20 years . It will give out more light and generate more energy in the future,” said Professor Hongwei Han from HUST (Huazhong University of Science and Technology) on 22 February, holding a thumb-sized solar cell with full of confidence. Photoelectric conversion materials and device is one of the fourth tasks once the Hubei Optics Valley Laboratory is established. At present, Professor Hongwei Han Group has conducted cutting-edge basic research in this field and has made great breakthroughs.             

“Our aim is to build internationally-advanced basic research facilities, gather the world’s best talents, explore a well-organized and innovative new pattern of operating mechanism and produce world-class major achievements,” said Mr. Xinyu Shao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, secretary of the party committee of HUST and chief of Hubei Optics Valley Laboratory. The Laboratory is born with the above-mentioned missions and will provide strategic support for making the optoelectronics information industry in Hubei province bigger and stronger, establishing a tera-scale “Guang-Xin-Ping-Duan-Wang” industrial cluster -- which “Guang” stands for optical fibers, “Xin” for chips, “Ping” for semiconductor displays, “Duan” for smart mobile terminals and “Wang” for IT network industries coming along with massive health industry and nudging “Optics Valley of China” towards “Optics Valley of the world”.             

A piece of common material turns into treasure in their hands--

Print three different kinds of pastes made of nanometer materials on a conductive glass layer by layer, the glass turns into a perovskite solar cell (PSC) after simple sintering, filling and drying process, then it can provide stable and reliable power supply. The research results of Han Group have been published in the journal Science, which is a major breakthrough for cheap clean energy.     

The breakthrough comes from 20 years’ tireless perseverance. “Basic research requires us to follow the right direction without being influenced by the outside world and to work down-to-earth.” Professor Hongwei Han introduced. Perovskite materials are synthesized in 1893, not incidentally, the team found out its potential after millions of experiments and explorations. And it will shine in the field by Hubei researchers：   

1) As for PCE (photoelectric conversion efficiency), the current highest lab PCE of PSCs notarized by third-parties reaches 25.5% which exceeds the predominant polycrystalline silicon solar cells, CdTe (cadmium telluride) solar cells and CIGS (copper indium gallium selenium) thin-film solar cells.

2) In terms of device stability, the device shows no obvious decay after 13,000 hours’ continuous irradiation of standard simulated sunlight. And this solar irradiation equals to 13 years’ total irradiation of Wuhan or most areas of Europe.   

At the present, PSCs set about its development and production in Hubei as an outstanding candidate of emerging solar cell technology.   

To gather 13 high-end platforms and over 1,000 researchers--

Over the past 60 years, photoelectric science has been the most active research field in the world. Before Hubei Optics Valley Laboratory, 8 scientific research institutions and enterprises including HUST and Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences have already possessed 7 national and 6 provincial photoelectric research platforms.   

Academician Xinyu Shao, chief of Hubei Optics Valley Laboratory told us, “we started preparing to establish Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO) since 2003, which provides a solid basis for the development for Optics Valley of China (Wuhan). All together, we strive for co-existence and co-prosperity. This time, we take a further step to integrate the preponderant platforms, disciplines, talents and industries in the optoelectronic information field in Hubei Province and adopt a “1+N” organization model with the support of HUST and coordinate predominant scientific research institutions and enterprises to jointly build an innovative pattern of “Core+Alliance+Ecosystem”. The new cooperation fully shows the development strategies of advantages integration and outstanding characteristics.”       

Win-win cooperation with stronger mission and heavier burdens--

We will lay the roots in Optics Valley of China (Wuhan) and firmly stick to the “Four orientations: face the government, the Pacific, the society, and the enterprises ” policies. Meanwhile, we will focus on the four major tasks of devices and chips of next generation network and establish the three major platforms including mciro- and nano-fabrication and testing platforms for optoelectronic chips. We will take the three major missions of “building the nation into a strong cyberpower, manufacturing power and health power” as our guidance to improve the original innovation capacity of optoelectronic information field and to break the bottlenecks of core and key technologies. In that way, we can speed up the process of commercialization of research findings and strengthen the strategic power of innovation-driven high-quality development of   optoelectronic information field in Hubei Province.     

And then, the Lab will explore the new management and operation mechanisms and take initial shape of a talents size and facility of over 1,000 researchers to strive for a highland by 2025 to motivate original innovation, invent high-end results, gather innovative talents and lead emerging industries for optoelectronic field in Hubei Province.   

“The establishment of Hubei Optics Valley Laboratory is a great encouragement for our perseverance in basic research. Platforms and talents will provide crucial guarantee for our future development, especially with great significance of industrial promotion.” said Professor Hongwei Han. The team is going to move to the new laboratory, Professor Han firmly believes perovskite solar cells will go further and give out more light.

Source: Huibei Daily